THE INTENSIFICATION AND REORIENTATION OF SUNNI JIHAD IDEOLOGY IN THE CRUSADER PERIOD

Jihad is perhaps the most hotly contested terms in Islamic thought, both historically and in contemporary times. For some, the term primarily refers to the ‘greater struggle’ to improve one’s own condition through reflection, prayer, and striving to fulfil God’s laws and moral guidelines, as set down in the foundational texts of Islam, the Qur’an and hadith. For others, while they also believe in this ‘greater jihad’ (al-jihad al-akbar), the military, legalistic meaning and conceptualisation of jihad is also important, and some argue it is central to Muslim theology and political thought. Many who uphold the second view see the internal ‘greater jihad’ as part and parcel of preparing oneself to engage in the military jihad, either defensive or offensive, but particularly the former when it involves leaving one’s home and comforts in order to travel to one of the ‘lands of battle and garrisoning’ (ard al-malahim, ard al-ribat). Divergent views on the meaning of the concept to ‘strive in the path of God’ (al-jihad fi sabil Allah) date back to the earliest days of Islam, as demonstrated textually by Asma Afsaruddin in her most recent book, Striving in the Path of God: Jihad and Martyrdom in Islamic Thought (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013). The early exegetes (mufassirun), scholars of hadith (muhaddithun), and jurists (fuqaha’) disagreed on whether military jihad and battlefield martyrdom were superior in terms of divine reward and moral and religious necessity than other forms. For example, are battlefield martyrs granted a higher station in Paradise (al-jannah) than those who drown or die while on the Hajj? Few of the early and medieval scholars, however, denied that the military form of jihad was important in certain contexts.